A Cornell student told investigators she was repeatedly assaulted in a closet while drifting in and out of consciousness during an October fraternity party, according to the university’s Title IX findings.
Jane Doe, then a 20-year-old sophomore, reported that two Chi Phi fraternity brothers led her into the closet at the house on Oct. 19, 2024. She described the assault to campus police in harrowing terms.
“It was just raping,” she said, according to the investigation findings.
The woman also told investigators that she “felt like bait” during the ordeal. At a university hearing, she expanded on her experience in vivid language.
“I felt like lions around me. It just was a totally debilitating place to be in,” she said at the hearing.
The Title IX investigation, which stretched across several months, uncovered additional evidence of how the accused students allegedly behaved that night. Members of the fraternity reportedly shared a photo of Jane Doe in a Snapchat group message, where one of those accused wrote about “free p—y.”
Further Snapchat messages reveal conversations among the fraternity members in the early morning hours. “Like you can walk in and whip it out,” one man allegedly wrote on the platform. In another exchange sent just before 1:45 a.m., a brother asked, “Shop still open?” and another replied, “Yea.”
The woman’s civil lawsuit accuses seven Chi Phi members of raping and sexually assaulting her over several hours at the fraternity house. No criminal charges have been filed to date.
New York Attorney General Letitia James has stepped in as special prosecutor on the reopened criminal investigation, replacing the Tompkins County district attorney. James said her office will review the evidence and pursue prosecution if they find wrongdoing.
The case has drawn national attention to sexual assault allegations at Greek life organizations on college campuses, with the Ivy League university’s months-long probe now feeding into a broader criminal review by the state’s top law enforcement official.